iCloud Tutorial: What is iCloud & How to Use It?

Posted by Winnie to iCloud, Data Transfer | Posted on Aug 15, 2017

The word iCloud must be known to everyone, but it's not necessarily when it comes to "What is iCloud". Basically, iCloud is a cloud storage and cloud computing service from Apple Inc, which securely stores your photos, videos, documents, music, apps, and more - and keeps them updated across all your devices, regardless of MacOS, iOS or Windows. It lets you easily share photos, calendars, locations, and more with friends and family. You can even use iCloud to help you find your device if you lose it.

What is iCloud?

To be specific, iCloud services include iCloud Drive, which is similar to Dropbox and Google Drive; iCloud Photo Library, which is an offshoot of Photo Stream, iTune Match and even Apple Music. It also provides us a way to back up iPhone iPad data in case of restoration at a future point. Besides, iCloud also includes web versions of important iOS and Mac apps, such as Mail, Calendar, and Reminders - that you can use from any supported web browser.

Top 8 Main iCloud Features You Should Know About

1. Backup and restore. Thanks to iCloud, you're no longer nagged by how to backup iPhone iPad. What does iCloud backup? The data backed up includes photos, videos in the Camera Roll, device settings, app data, messages, ringtones, and Visual Voicemails etc. Conversely, with iCloud, you can restore what you have backed up as well.

2. iCloud Drive. Apple's cloud storage solution isn't quite as smooth as Dropbox, but it ties in well to the iPad, iPhone, and Macs. But what is iCloud Drive? It is a service that allows apps to store documents on the Internet, which allows you to access those files from multiple devices.

3. iCloud Photo Library. iCloud Photo Library lets you store and access your media in the cloud, rather than keeping it on your devices.Users can access their iCloud Photo Library on supported devices via new Photo app or iCloud Photo Lobraary web app at iCloud.

4. Photo Stream. Photo Stream is a service supplied with the basic iCloud service which allows users to store the most recent 1,000 photos on the iCloud servers up to 30 days free of charge. When your camera roll photo is Photo Stream enabled, it's uploaded to iCloud, and the registered device automatically.

5. Storage. Each iCloud account has 5 GB of free storage for owners of either an iOS device using iOS 5.x or later, or a Mac using OS X Lion 10.7 or later. Users can purchase additional storage for a total of 50 GB, 200 GB, 1 TB or 2TB. The amount of storage is shared across all devices per iCloud Apple ID.

6. iTunes Match. If you are wild about transfer purchases from iPhone to iTunes, the iTunes Match enables you to transfer all your alternately acquired music into iTunes at $24.99 a year. Apple will match your music that you haven't purchased through iTunes with their 256 Kbps AAC DRM-free quality and add them to iCloud. Also see: How to transfer iTunes purchases.

7. Find My iPhone. I know that feeling of having lost something so expensive and that makes this such a great security feature. Once you find your device you can remotely wipe and lock it. Not to mention send a message letting whoever is around that you (or the police) are on their way to retrieve it.

8. iWork for iCloud. Thanks to iCloud, you can use Pages, Numbers and Keynote as web apps. iCloud also allows you to easily save TextEdit documents to the cloud, and access them from other devices.

iCloud Tutorial: How to Use iCloud?

#1 How to Set Up iCloud?

To make through how to use iCloud, you need know how to set up iCloud first. Your iCloud account is based on your Apple ID. So if you haven't got an Apple ID already, you'll need to create one. You may also have to update the OS on your device as well. And in view of iCloud's wide compatibility on iPhone iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Windows, the setting up steps may be various.

On iPhone iPad: Go to Settings > iCloud later on, and then enter your Apple ID and password.
On Mac: Open System Preferences and click iCloud. Now sign in with your Apple ID and tick the services you want to use.
On Apple TV (4): Go to Settings > Accounts > iCloud, then selecting Sign In.
On Windows: Download and install iCloud for Windows. Open it and sign in with your Apple ID, then put a tick next to the iCloud services you want to use.

#2 How to Use iCloud to Backup & Restore Files?

Since iCloud backup and restore are more commonly used and seem more complicated. Here we'd like to go further on how to use iCloud to backup and restore files on iPhone. Here we go.
Note: Before iCloud backup, you need make sure you have enough space for your iPhone backup on iCloud, if not, you can try to free up space on iCloud, or purchase more space.

How to Back up with iCloud?

Step 1: Connect your device to a Wi-Fi network. Go to Settings > Your Apple ID> tap iCloud > iCloud Backup

Step 2: Tap Back Up Now. Stay connected to your Wi-Fi network until the process completes.

Step 3: Make sure that the backup finished: Go to Settings > Your Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud Storage > Manage Storage (or Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage), then select your device. The backup should appear in the details with the time and backup size.

How to Restore from an iCloud backup?

1. On your iOS device, go to Settings > General > Software Update. If a newer version of iOS is available, follow the onscreen instructions to download and install it.

2. Make sure you have a recent backup to restore from. Go to Settings >Your Apple ID > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage (or Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage), then tap a device listed under Backups to see the date and size of its latest backup.

3. Go to Settings > General > Reset, then tap "Erase all content and settings."

4. On the Apps & Data screen, tap Restore from iCloud Backup, then sign in to iCloud.

5. Proceed to "Choose backup," then choose from a list of available backups in iCloud. And you finally restore iPhone from iCloud backup.

Additional: How to Backup & Restore iPhone without iCloud?

As you can see, there are many steps for iCloud backup and restore. If you wanna some easier steps, you can backup and restore iPhone without iCloud - via a powerful iPhone transfer named MacX MediaTrans. It's an easy-to-use iCloud alternative which helps to backup a wide range types of files, like photos, movies, TV shows, videos, music, DRM contents, purchases and more from iPhone to Mac/PC without wiping any existing data. You can also retrieve iPhone backup with this program by transferring backed up files from Mac/PC to iPhone. Still, unlike iCloud, it allows you to access and read any iPhone backup files without Internet connection.

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3 Steps to Backup & Restore iPhone with MacX MediaTrans

Step 1: Free download the iCloud alternative and launch it. Connect your iPhone to Mac with a USB cable.

Step 2: Click "Photo Transfer" to backup and transfer photo from iPhone to Mac, or "Music Manager" or "Video" or "Book" to choose the target media files you would like to backup from iPhone without iCloud.

Step 3: Then click "Export" on the top of the window and backup iPhone to Mac or PC without iCloud.

Restore iPhone: If you want to restore backup from Mac/PC, go the same steps but click "Add Photo" (or Add Music/Video/Book/Ringtone) at last to import your iPhone backup. Then click on Sync button, the restoration get done.